Independent journalist and former NCS anchor Don Lemon defended his protection of an anti-ICE protest at a St. Paul, Minnesota, church, which resulted in his arrest last week, telling Jimmy Kimmel on Monday that as a journalist, he “went there to chronicle and document and record what was happening.”
“There is a difference between a protester and a journalist,” Lemon mentioned on Kimmel’s late-night present in his first interview since he was launched with out bail final Friday.
Lemon and one other impartial journalist, Georgia Fort, have been livestreaming as dozens of demonstrators interrupted a service at Cities Church on January 18, resulting in tense confrontations. Protesters mentioned one of the pastors is a prime ICE official in the Twin Cities.
Federal prosecutors lumped the 2 journalists in with protesters and charged them with conspiring to violate somebody’s constitutional rights and violating the FACE Act, which prohibits the use of power or threats to deliberately intervene with somebody expressing their First Amendment proper to apply faith.
Trump administration officers had referred to as for Lemon’s arrest in the times after the protest, prompting him to take precautionary measures and rent an lawyer, he mentioned.
“The attorney reached out to (prosecutors) and said basically, ‘I understand that you have an interest because your folks have been talking about it. So, if you are serious about this, then let’s do it the right way,” Lemon advised Kimmel, describing his willingness to show himself in.
But as a substitute of having the ability to give up voluntarily, Lemon mentioned, at the very least a dozen federal brokers have been despatched to arrest him in the foyer of a Los Angeles lodge, the place he was staying whereas overlaying the Grammys.
Lemon mentioned he was “jostled” close to a lodge elevator and positioned in handcuffs, including it took some time for brokers to determine themselves and current him with a warrant.
“I think my attorney tried to contact them once, maybe twice –– that I could just go in and it would have to be just the folks who were just working there that day. They wouldn’t have to have all these people following me around,” Lemon mentioned.
“They want to embarrass you, they want to intimidate you, they want to instill fear,” Lemon advised Kimmel.
Federal prosecutors have alleged Lemon and Fort participated in a “takeover-style attack” of the church and intimidated congregants. A federal prosecutor in court docket final week mentioned Lemon advised his viewers the protest’s function was to make the expertise traumatic and uncomfortable for the congregants.
Lemon was launched from custody on Friday after showing in federal court docket. Prosecutors requested a $100,000 bond, and argued Lemon wanted situations to make sure he wouldn’t really feel emboldened to do one thing comparable whereas awaiting trial.
His protection attorneys agreed he would don’t have any contact with identified witnesses, victims or co-defendants, and should get approval for any overseas journey – the choose permitted a visit to Europe deliberate in June.
He is predicted to be arraigned on Monday in Los Angeles.
First Amendment advocates and civil rights organizations have condemned the costs and argued the administration is attempting to relax press freedom.
The selection of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for Lemon’s first post-arrest interview was no accident. The Trump administration’s focusing on of Kimmel made information in September when ABC briefly suspended the present amid authorities strain. ABC brought the show back inside every week.
After his arrest and realizing he wouldn’t be capable to conduct interviews usually on the Grammys, Lemon attended the awards gala Sunday as a visitor as a substitute of overlaying the crimson carpet.
At an annual pre-Grammys gala hosted by music government Clive Davis, Lemon acquired a shoutout from Davis and a partial standing ovation from the gang, a testomony to the widespread assist for him in leisure trade circles.
On the day of the arrests, Jane Fonda’s just lately reestablished Committee for the First Amendment mentioned, “arresting journalists for doing their jobs is an attack on our freedoms and our democracy.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and different Trump administration officers have defended the arrests by asserting that the individuals who entered the church violated the First Amendment rights of the worshippers.
Bondi mentioned on Fox News Monday evening, “These people committed a crime under the FACE Act and they will be held accountable.”
When President Donald Trump was requested about Lemon’s case over the weekend, he mentioned “I didn’t know anything about it,” then proceeded to insult Lemon.
Trump additionally mentioned “probably from his standpoint,” the arrest was “the best thing that could happen to him,” as a result of Lemon has been getting a lot consideration.
Legal consultants advised NCS that the costs towards the journalists are highly unusual and will likely be tough for presidency prosecutors to show at trial.